SnapChat update makes app features confusing, frustrates users

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The latest updates on SnapChat have users upset and requesting that the app return to its old form.

Prior to this recent update, SnapChat had its features laid out on different pages. It was either a swipe to the left or a swipe to the right. With the swiping motion, it made for more of a simpler app.

“How the old SnapChat was, was so much easier to use because it had a place when you text people and then where you could see what everyone posted on the other side, it was just more organized,” junior Rhianna Sears said.

SnapChat stories received one of the biggest changes with the update. Stories now show up on the same page as someone’s recent Snaps, creating confusion.

“SnapChat is difficult to use now because the stories and SnapChats reorganize by themselves every time I go on the app and people I don’t even talk to are at the top of the list and my friends are at the bottom, it just doesn’t make sense,” junior Wyatt Fox said.

The app has received complaints about the change, and their response is: “It is going to take time for people to get use to it.”

“This update has made it very confusing and hard to use because I was so used to the old one and it’s such a big change,” junior Jazmine Casanova said.

Once of the biggest complaints about the new version of app is how difficult it is now to tell whether or not a SnapChat is received or somebody is posting to his or her story.Before the update, the two actions were separate. However, now the two are together on one page and stories are no longer in chronological order.

“I don’t like how your stories are mixed with the snaps you receive because I don’t always get to see all the stories,” junior Blaise Bozarth said.

Students are dealing with the update in different ways. While some students have deleted the app, others have found a way to reverse the update on the on their phone.

“I hated the update, so when I found out how to reverse it I did but it only lasted a few days then went back to the new one,” junior Allecia Rategan said.

Although SnapChat refuses to revert to their previous version, it has made some improvements to the update. This is the result of over 1.2 million people signing a petition that saidthe “new SnapChat update has felt uncomfortable for many” and called for the SnapChat company to reverse the update. As a result of this petition, the app changed the layout, again. This update to the update reorganizes a user’s SnapChat groups, stories and recent Snaps into different categories. Since the second update, there have been less complaints about the app.

“I personally prefer the second update rather than the first because everything is bigger and it’s more organized,” junior Aaliyah Elliott said. “I’m happy with how it is now.”

SnapChat continues to work through these growing pains, hoping to get back in the good graces of its loyal fan-base.